Integrated inductor

ABSTRACT

An inductor and multiple inductors embedded in a substrate (e.g., IC package substrate, board substrate, and/or other substrate) is provided herein.

BACKGROUND

Inductors are used in a wide variety of integrated circuit applicationsincluding voltage regulators such as switching power converters. Aninductor is a conductor that is shaped in a manner to store energy in amagnetic field adjacent to the conductor. An inductor typically has oneor more “turns” that concentrate the magnetic field flux induced bycurrent flowing through each turn of the conductor in an “inductive”area defined within the inductor turns. In some cases the aspect ratioof the turn can be large so that the turn forms an ellipse or arectangle. The aspect ratio may be so large that the inductor turn withits return path forms a transmission line.

Inductors have been implemented in integrated circuit dies and circuitpackages but they may have several drawbacks. They have typically beenmade by forming helical or spiral traces in conductive layers (such asin conductive semiconductor or package or printed circuit boardsubstrate layers) to form inductor turns. In some cases, these tracesmay be coupled to traces in adjacent layers in order to achieve higherinductance and/or current capability. Unfortunately, they can consumeexcessive trace layer resources and may not provide sufficient currentcapacity or high enough quality factor without unreasonable scaling. Inaddition, because their inductive areas are substantially parallel withrespect to other trace layers in the package substrate and circuit die,they can have unfavorable electromagnetic interference (EMI) effects onother components within the integrated circuit and/or their inductorcharacteristics can be adversely affected by adjacent conductors withinthe substrate or circuit die. Accordingly, a new inductor solution isdesired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, and notby way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings inwhich like reference numerals refer to similar elements.

FIG. 1A is a diagram of a conventional integrated circuit.

FIG. 1B is a sectional view of a portion of a substrate from theintegrated circuit of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an integrated circuit with embedded substrateinductors in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a power converter with inductors inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view of an inductor in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 4B is a perspective view of an inductor with a wider inductive looparea in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an inductor with multiple couplingconductive layers in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of multiple inductors arranged in adjacentrows in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the multiple inductors of FIG. 6 with aterminal from each inductor coupled to a conductive layer portion toform a common terminal in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of multiple inductors arranged in a singlerow in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the multiple inductors of FIG. 8 with aterminal from each inductor coupled to a conductive layer portion toform a common terminal in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of multiple inductors arranged in a singlerow with staggered terminals in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the multiple inductors of FIG. 10 witha terminal from each inductor coupled to a conductive layer portion toform a common terminal in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a computer system having a power converterwith inductors in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1A shows a conventional integrated circuit (IC) 100 generallycomprising at least one semiconductor die 102 electrically coupled(e.g., through solder bumps) to a package substrate 104. The die 102 maybe electrically coupled to the substrate throughout the majority of itsundersurface (as is the case, for example, with a flip-chip typepackage) which allows for increased external connections with greatercurrent capacity. Within the scope of this patent application, the term“substrate” refers to any substrate that die 102 is mounted on includinga dedicated or shared package substrate, interposer substrate or printedcircuit board. That is, in some embodiments, die 102 could be mounted ona printed circuit board or on an interposer substrate.

FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view of the substrate 104 from an IC ofFIG. 1A. The substrate 104 comprises an insulative core (e.g., made fromorganic resin material, plastic, ceramic, or some other suitablematerial) 113 sandwiched between conductive core layers 111, insulative(e.g., core) layers 109, and conductive build-up layers 107. The die 102is typically electrically coupled through its contacts on a build-uplayer 107 (e.g., “upper” layer) using solder bumps or some othersuitable contacts. From there, vias (micro vias 115 and plated throughholes 117) electrically couple the die contacts to desired portions(e.g., traces) of the different conductive layers 111, 107 to couplethem, for example, to a socket or circuit board housing the substrate.

A plated through hole (PTH) is a type of via. As used herein, the term“via” refers to a conductive member in a substrate that can be used toelectrically couple two or more spaced apart conductive layers in asubstrate. Plated through holes are normally used to couple tracesseparated by farther distances, while micro vias 115 are typically usedto couple extreme outer (upper and lower) trace layers to adjacentlayers. Typically, vias are formed from a hole lined and/or filled witha conducting material (e.g., copper). they are usually disposedperpendicularly to the plane of the substrate but can be angled, so longas they have a perpendicular component thereby allowing them to span twoor more layers. Depending on the size of the substrate and number ofneeded electrical connections, a substrate may have hundreds orthousands of vias and in many cases, have capacity for even more, whichis exploited by some embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 2 shows an IC 200 in accordance with some embodiments of theinvention. It generally comprises at least one IC die 102 electricallycoupled to a substrate 204 having a region 206 with one or more embeddedinductors in accordance with embodiments disclosed herein. While IC 200shows only a single die 202, it could comprise a number of additionaldies and may perform a variety of functions. For example, in someembodiments, it comprises one or more power converter circuits, such asthe circuit described below, using one or more inductors from theembedded inductor region 206.

FIG. 3 shows a multi-phase “buck” type switching power converter withnovel inductors 304, configured in accordance with some embodiments. Thedepicted converter generally comprises a controller (also sometimesreferred to as a pulse width modulator) 302 coupled to driver switches(or switches) S₁ to S_(N), which in turn are coupled to inductors, L₁ toL_(N), and capacitor C to generate a regulated DC output voltageV_(out). Typically, the depicted converter is used to “step down” a DCvoltage, V_(in), supplied to switches S₁ to S_(N), to a smaller,regulated DC voltage V_(out).

Controller 302 generates trigger signals applied to the switches. Eachswitch produces a pulse train voltage signal ranging between the appliedinput value (V_(in)) and the low-side reference (V_(SS)). The pulsetrain signal produced from each switch is applied to an input of anassociated inductor. The duty cycle of an applied pulse train signalgenerally determines the magnitude of the voltage generated at theoutput of the inductor (V_(out)).

The converter could operate as a single phase converter with a singledriven inductor or as a multi-phase converter with multiple inductors.With a multi-phase converter, the trigger signals for the switches (S₁to S_(N)) are skewed in time (phase shifted) so that switching noisefrom each inductor is distributed in time. This multi-phase approachserves to reduce the voltage ripple at the output. The capacitor Cfilters ripple, along with AC noise, from the output DC voltage(V_(out)).

Ripple is one characteristic for qualifying a power converter (orconverter). The smaller the ripple the better. In general, to achieve agiven ripple constraint, smaller inductors can be used in a multi-phasedesign than could otherwise be used in an analogous single phaseimplementation because the interleaved phase portions serve to “smooth”the output signal. Another factor is transient response. Transientresponse time is essentially the time required for the output voltageV_(out) to respond to a change from the controller or to a change in theload current. In sizing the inductors, a trade-off typically existsbetween ripple and transient response. With larger inductors, ripplereduction improves but transient response time increases. Another factoris converter efficiency, which is the percentage of total power consumedby the converter that goes to the output load (not shown). With thequality (Q) factor defined as the ratio of an inductor's imaginary(inductive) impedance to its real (resistive) impedance, efficiencyincreases with a higher inductor Q factor. With all of this in mind, theinductor structures disclosed herein and described in the followingsections provide a flexible solution for implementing single andmultiple inductors with desired inductor characteristics.

FIGS. 4A and 4B show inductors in accordance with some embodiments. Theycomprise spaced apart vias 404 coupled together at common ends with aportion 406 of a conductive layer. At their other ends, they are coupledto conductive layer portions 402, which serve as first and secondinductor terminals.

The spaced apart vias 404 and coupling conductive layer portion 406 makeup a single inductor “turn” (notwithstanding the fact that the turn isleft open between the terminals, although this is not required).Together, the vias and coupling layer portion define a rectangularshaped cross-sectional core area (or inductor area). It is worthpointing out that with the depicted configuration, the inductor areas(loop cross-sections) are substantially perpendicular to the conductorlayers within the substrate, which reduces the adverse effect they mayhave on inductor performance, as well as the negative impact theinductor may have on signals within conductor layer traces.

With its wider coupling portion 406, the inductor of FIG. 4B has alarger inductor loop area than that of the inductor of FIG. 4A and thus,with everything else substantially being the same, has a largerassociated inductance. However, depending upon the amount to which itsresistance is also larger, its quality factor may or may not be higher.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of an inductor. As with the inductors ofFIGS. 4A and 4B, it has spaced apart vias 504, but instead of a singleconductive layer coupling them together, it uses multiple, conductivelayer portions 506 to couple the vias together at a common end of thevias. It also uses multiple, conductive layer portions 502 coupled atthe other ends for its first and second inductor terminals. Multipleconductive layer portions will typically provide for less inductorresistance, resulting in a higher quality factor and greater currentcapacity. This can be valuable for power converter applications toachieve increased efficiency and to be able to service larger loaddemands.

FIG. 6 shows multiple inductors arranged in two adjacent rows, eachhaving four inductors. Each inductor may be configured as an inductorfrom FIGS. 4A, 4B, or 5, although in the depicted embodiment, theterminal portions and layer portions coupling the vias together are madefrom a single layer.

FIG. 7 shows the inductors of FIG. 6 but with a terminal from eachinductor coupled together by a conductive layer portion 702 to form acommon terminal. Such a configuration could be used, for example, toimplement inductors in a voltage regulator such as the power converterof FIG. 3.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of multiple inductors (eight in thedepicted embodiment) arranged in a single row. Not only may this allowfor larger inductor areas for each inductor, but also, it may provideeasier routing access to all of the terminals.

FIG. 9 shows the multiple inductors of FIG. 8 with a terminal from eachinductor coupled to a conductive layer portion 902. This set of commonlyconnected terminals could provide a common output, e.g., for amulti-phase power converter.

FIG. 10 shows multiple inductors configured in accordance with otherembodiments. It comprises interleavably staggered (or skewed) inductors.As depicted, this allows them to be placed closer to one another withtheir terminal layer portions for adjacent inductors not being disposedalong a common line. FIG. 11 shows the inductors with a terminal fromeach inductor coupled to a common layer portion 1102 to provide a commonterminal for all of the inductors.

It should be appreciated that other embodiments not specificallypresented are within the scope of the invention. For example, while thedisclosed inductors have inductor areas that are substantially verticalrelative to a substrate, it is contemplated that they could also have ahorizontal component (i.e., be angled), depending upon design concernsand/or manufacturing preferences. In addition, while the depictedinductors are implemented with plated through hole vias, any other typeof via could also be used, depending upon available materials and/ormanufacturing processes. They could be formed from layered, deposited,and/or filled holes (e.g., formed from mechanical and laser drilling,milling, sacrificial formations), or they could be made from some otherprocess. Moreover, while the use of magnetic materials is notspecifically disclosed, they are not discounted from the scope of theinvention and may be used in some embodiments. For example, a magneticmaterial layer could be disposed “beneath” the inductors to enhancetheir inductances. However, the use of such a material may not bedesired due to process limitations or other detriments. It isanticipated that the inductors disclosed herein may be used in highfrequency (e.g., in excess of 10 MHz.) switching applications, which maymake it unfeasible to use a magnetic material.

With reference to FIG. 12, one example of a computer system is shown.The depicted system generally comprises a processor 1202 that is coupledto a power converter 1204, a wireless interface 1206, and memory 1208.It is coupled to the converter 1204 to receive from it power when inoperation. The wireless interface 1206 is coupled to an antenna 1210 tocommunicatively link the processor through the wireless interface chip1206 to a wireless network (not shown). The power converter 1204comprises a substrate 1205 that includes inductors in accordance withsome embodiments disclosed herein.

It should be noted that the depicted system could be implemented indifferent forms. That is, it could be implemented in a single chipmodule, a circuit board, or a chassis having multiple circuit boards.Similarly, it could constitute one or more complete computers oralternatively, it could constitute a component useful within a computingsystem.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments described, but can bepracticed with modification and alteration within the spirit and scopeof the appended claims. For example, it should be appreciated that thepresent invention is applicable for use with all types of semiconductorintegrated circuit (“IC”) chips. Examples of these IC chips include butare not limited to processors, controllers, chipset components,programmable logic arrays (PLA), memory chips, network chips, and thelike.

Moreover, it should be appreciated that examplesizes/models/values/ranges may have been given, although the presentinvention is not limited to the same. As manufacturing techniques (e.g.,photolithography) mature over time, it is expected that devices ofsmaller size could be manufactured. In addition, well known power/groundconnections to IC chips and other components may or may not be shownwithin the FIGS. for simplicity of illustration and discussion, and soas not to obscure the invention. Further, arrangements may be shown inblock diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the invention, and alsoin view of the fact that specifics with respect to implementation ofsuch block diagram arrangements are highly dependent upon the platformwithin which the present invention is to be implemented, i.e., suchspecifics should be well within purview of one skilled in the art. Wherespecific details (e.g., circuits) are set forth in order to describeexample embodiments of the invention, it should be apparent to oneskilled in the art that the invention can be practiced without, or withvariation of, these specific details. The description is thus to beregarded as illustrative instead of limiting.

1. An apparatus, comprising: a substrate comprising an inductor formedfrom spaced apart first and second vias coupled together to providefirst and second inductor terminals and to define an inductor area. 2.The apparatus of claim 1, in which the first and second vias are coupledtogether at common ends by at least one conductive layer portion.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 2, in which the at least one conductive layer portioncomprises two or more parallel conductive layer portions.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1, in which the defined inductor area issubstantially rectangular in shape and bounded by said first and secondvias and a conductive layer portion that couples them together.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, in which the first and second vias comprise platedthrough holes.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, in which the plated throughholes are substantially filled with a conductive material.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1, in which the substrate comprises a magneticmaterial to enhance characteristics of the inductor.
 8. The apparatus ofclaim 1, in which the substrate comprises a plurality of the inductors.9. The apparatus of claim 8, in which a terminal from each inductor arecoupled to a common terminal for a multi-phase power converter circuit.10. The apparatus of claim 9, in which the substrate supports asemiconductor die containing at least a portion of the power convertercircuit.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, in which the substrate is partof an integrated circuit device.
 12. An apparatus comprising: asubstrate; and a semiconductor die comprising at least a portion of amulti-phase power converter circuit with multiple driver switch outputs;the substrate comprising inductors including a separate inductorassociated with each driver switch, each inductor being formed from aseparate set of spaced apart first and second vias coupled together toprovide inductor terminals, with a terminal from each inductor coupledto the output of its associated driver switch and another terminal fromeach inductor coupled to a common output terminal.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 12, in which the inductors each define inductor areas that aresubstantially parallel with one another.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13,in which the inductor areas are substantially rectangular in shape. 15.The apparatus of claim 13, in which the inductors are disposed into twoadjacent rows with the common output terminal being coupled to innerinductor terminals comprising adjacent terminals from the two rows. 16.The apparatus of claim 13, in which the commonly coupled terminals aresubstantially aligned along a common line.
 17. The apparatus of claim13, in which the commonly coupled terminals are skewed.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 13, in which the vias comprise plated through holes.19. A system, comprising: (a) a microprocessor; (b) a power convertercoupled to the microprocessor to provide it with a regulated DC supply,said power converter comprising: (i) a substrate; and (ii) asemiconductor die comprising at least a portion of a multi-phase powerconverter circuit with multiple driver switch outputs; (iii) thesubstrate comprising inductors including a separate inductor associatedwith each driver switch, each inductor being formed from a separate setof spaced apart first and second vias coupled together to provideinductor terminals with an inductor terminal from each inductor beingcoupled to an output of its associated driver switch and anotherterminal from each inductor being coupled to a common terminal toprovide an output for the power converter circuit; (c) an antenna; and(d) a wireless interface coupled to the microprocessor and to theantenna to communicatively link the microprocessor to a wirelessnetwork.
 20. The system of claim 19, further comprising a batterycoupled to the power converter to provide it with power.